Notre Dame survives WW-P South rally with three late runs

LAWRENCE — After two innings, the Notre Dame High baseball team had an eight-run lead and looked like it could cruise to a mercy-rule victory.

Then came the curve ball.

West Winsdor-Plainsboro South came roaring back and the Irish only escaped with an 11-8 victory Wednesday after rallying for three runs in the bottom of the sixth.

“Tip off the hat to our kids because they found a way,” Notre Dame head coach Joe Drulis said. “They were up, 8-0, and you look up all of a sudden it’s 8-8 and you’re scrambling. They put together a little rally and found a way to win.”

Austin O’Donnell knocked in the winning run with a single to left-center that plated Jamie Galazin, who led off the frame with a walk.

Tyler Galazin followed with a single that scored Mike Milazzo and O’Donnell for a pair of insurance tallies.

“The few at bats beforehand, I wasn’t swinging at my pitch,” said O’Donnell, who was 1-for-4. “I just tried to get something where I could drive the ball and move the guys over. I just wanted to be clutch for the team and make sure we got ahead here because I know we got a little sloppy.”

Pirates center fielder Scott Benerofe had a chance to catch O’Donnell’s single, sprinting deep into the gap in left-center only to have the ball elude his glove by mere inches.

“I thought I was going to hear the pop in the glove and I was going to turn and throw it,” Benerofe said. “When it hits the ground, I was shocked. That’s one I feel like I have to catch.”

The Irish (5-3), who have won four straight, wasted little time getting to South starter Logan Levine when Milazzo (3-for-4) drove in the first two of his four runs with a bases-loaded single. Mike Walley forced across the third run of the inning with a bases-loaded walk.

Levine was tagged for seven runs (five earned) thanks in large part to six walks. He didn’t get out of the second inning after loading the bases with no outs and uncorking a wild pitch that forced in the fourth Irish run.

Milazzo greeted reliever Matt Ditaranto with another two-run single, and Walley followed later in the frame with a two-run single of his own.

At that point, the mercy rule looked more likely than a thrilling a victory, especially with starter Derek Schmidt coasting through the first three innings. Schmidt went five innings, allowing five runs (three earned) on seven hits and striking out four.

But Don Hutchinson’s Pirates (4-4) didn’t go quietly.

They scored one in the fourth, four in the fifth and three in the sixth to tie the game at 8. Seven of their eight runs — the four in the fifth and three in the sixth — all came after there were two outs and nobody on base.

Meanwhile, Ditaranto slowed down the Irish bats with 4 1/3 innings of solid relief, although he ended up taking the loss after allowing the three runs in the sixth.

“We made some physical errors, which you can live with, but you can’t have the mental errors,” said Drulis, alluding to a play in the fifth when Brian Tso kept the inning alive by hustling out a grounder to first. “Credit our team, though, we showed a lot of character. We got some big hits and found a way to win.”

Danny Borup (3-for-4) and Austin Lindner both had RBI singles in the fifth that cut the deficit to 8-3 before both scored on an error to make it 8-5.

Borup’s single in the top of the sixth off reliever Connor Lafferty made it 8-6, and Lindner followed with a two-run double to left-center, evening the score.

“You see the three and the five in the first two innings and you think, ‘Wow, you take one of those numbers away and it’s a whole different ball game,’” said Benerofe, who finished 2-for-3 and scored a pair of runs. “We look at that, but we also look at the fact that we were able to stay in and we were able to fight. If we cut down a few of those errors, we have a lot better shot at winning.”

When Notre Dame had a chance to rescue a fourth straight victory in the bottom half of the inning, O’Donnell made sure it took it.

“It shows a lot about our character, too,” O’Donnell said. “It’s something great for us because we realize even if we do go down, we’re able to come back up. We can correct ourselves and learn from our mistakes.”